Withdrawal bug not a factor at Pen

While the waiting may be driving Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament Director Anne Worcester out of her mind, it certainly beats the alternative.

Jim Fuller

Published 12:00 am, Thursday, August 14, 2003

During Worcesters partnership with the WTA Tour stop in New Haven, she has managed to sidestep the withdrawal plague that rocks other tournaments to their core.

This weeks tour event  the AT&T Cup in Toronto  saw four former No. 1 players among six prominent withdrawals. However, with the Pilot Pen main draw set to begin on Sunday, the field appears to be exactly as advertised. With the way the injury bug has ripped its way through the whos who of womens professional tennis, this is a rather impressive feat.

Even if four-time defending champion Venus Williams is not a last-second entrant, and it appears very likely that she will not, the Pilot Pen is bringing five top-10 players and between 16 to 19 of the top 25 players when the field becomes official today at 4 p.m.

"As much as late entries keep us hanging, it is so much better to have late entries than withdrawals," Worcester said. "Withdrawals really damage credibility in tournaments  not that year but the years following."

Two years ago, then-top ranked Monica Seles was a late withdrawal but she did arrive before the tournament to speak at a street clinic promoting the event. Last year Jelena Dokic had to withdraw shortly before her match.

That pales in comparison to what has happened at some of the other North American hard-court tournaments. This year, the WTAs current top 10 players have withdrawn or retired from 27 tournaments.

"I look at this year, and I have looked into it pretty carefully since this issue has developed," WTA Chief Executive Officer Larry Scott told the Toronto Globe and Mail on Tuesday. "It seems to me this is more of a fluke than an ongoing problem."

Still, the withdrawal epidemic is not a one-year wonder. Every year when tournament directors meet to discuss their biggest concerns, late withdrawals are usually pretty high on the agenda.

Part of the problem stems with impatient tournament directors who are eager to get big names to commit early in order to get their marketing campaigns off and running. Worcester is as aggressive as any of her peers in the pursuit of players. But she also has enough of a track record both in her tenure at the Pilot Pen and as the former CEO of the WTA Tour to know that she will have a top-flight field.

"Every (committee meeting), they talk about withdrawals," Worcester said. "They say, Anne, what do you think? I say, Well, we dont have a withdrawal problem at the Pilot Pen."

Worcester was concerned that Meghann Shaughnessy and Alexandra Stevenson might have to pull out, but she got word that all 19 players currently in the main draw plan to be in New Haven.